Middle East analyst Ehsan Abdoh Tabrizi says that while Iran President Hassan Rouhani remains limited in impacting the country’s foreign policy, his landslide re-election gives him a significant opportunity for domestic reforms
For a growing number of young people who want to purchase a home of their own, rising rents and crippling student debt has meant that many are putting off that dream of home ownership — or changing what their ideal of what home ownership looks like.
For some, that means ‘going tiny’ — purchasing or building their own smaller homes. For some of these tiny housers who have the travel bug, that has meant going an even more unconventional route, and converting retired school buses into full-time homes on wheels, as Brittany and Steven of Adventure or Bust have done.
Based out of Sarasota, Florida, the couple say that they built their bus home because they wanted to easily travel, without having to buy a truck to tow a tiny home, and to have a home of their own, rent-free, which would allow them to also save money to pay off their student debt. They did all the work on the bus themselves, taking about a year to complete the project. Brittany is a user experience (UX) designer for websites, which means she can work with only a wifi Internet connection while on the road, while Steven is finishing nursing school, with the intention of becoming a travel nurse — a nurse who is hired to work in a specific location for a limited amount of time. Check out this tour of their self-built bus home via Girl Gone Green:
Coming into the well-insulated bus, we see the lounge area, which has a L-shaped couch with storage hidden under the seats. Part of the couch can pull out to create a full-size bed for guests, and a flatscreen television has its place of honour right across on the other wall.
The kitchen has full-size but energy-efficient appliances: stove, refrigerator and an all-in-one combo washer and dryer. The bus has a side door right beside the washer, which the couple have put to good use by building a detachable insert in part of their kitchen counter, making it a good spot to haul things in and out for a barbecue, or as an extra fire egress.
The middle part of the bus has their closet, and bathroom with a Nature’s Head composting toilet, and a standard-sized shower. No blackwater is produced, and all greywater is recuperated and used in their veggie garden, while the compost is used on their fruit trees.
At the very back is the sleeping area. Their queen-sized bed lifts up with the use of hydraulic hardware, and underneath there’s storage space made out for their 100-gallon water tank and camping gear. This is also the space where the couple’s two dogs hang out.
The bus was renovated for a relatively modest sum of USD $17,600 — including the purchase of the bus. To help others interested in doing something similar, they’ve posted a detailed expense sheet here for reference. The couple are now saving up for their solar power system, and as Steven mentions in the video, they have also saved up enough from the first few months of living in their bus that they are now planning a trip abroad — something they wouldn’t have been able to do before as renters. They also chose to go the bus home route rather than a tiny home, as building a tiny home would have also meant buying a truck to tow it on their travels, and subjecting their home to hurricane-force winds.
Building their dream home was also a challenge that they unwaveringly took up, despite their lack of experience, says Brittany:
When we started this build the only tools we owned was a mechanics tool set and a hammer. Having never undertaken such an immense task we were understandably nervous, but totally excited. Our transition to skoolie life has been pretty easy honestly. During the build we were also working on simplifying our lives. Our goal was to make the switch as easy as possible. Our dogs LOVE the bus. Since moving into the bus we spend much more time outside, which means so do they.
It’s quite a lovely and thoughtful DIY renovation, and yet another example of enterprising young people taking control of their lives into their own hands, and building something that works for them, rather than them working for something that might not necessarily fit them. To see more, visit Adventure or Bust, Facebook and Instagram.
Male narwhals will rub their horns together, an action known as ‘tusking.’ (Photo: Glenn Williams/National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Known as “the unicorns of the sea,” narwhals are unique for the solitary tusk that protrudes through the tops of their heads. The horn is actually a canine front tooth that can reach as long as nine feet. But until recently scientists weren’t sure what, if any, purpose it had.
Research from 2014 suggests that the tusk is used as a sensory organ, helping the narwhal pick up changes in its environment. Researchers say males of the species may use the horns to look for food or find mates. The results of the study were published in the journal The Anatomical Record.
“People have said it’s everything from an ice pick to an acoustic probe, but this is the first time that someone has discovered sensory function and has the science to show it,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Martin Nweeia from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, told the BBC.
A team of international investigators worked together to understand the function of the narwhal’s unusual protuberance. To do so, they captured several of the elusive animals and anchored them using a net anchored perpendicular to shore.
The researchers found that the outer cementum layer of the tusk is porous, the inner dentin layer has microscopic tubes that channel toward the middle, and the pulp in the center has nerve endings that connect to the animal’s brain. The structure makes the tusk sensitive to temperature and chemical differences in the environment.
When the tusk was exposed to different levels of salt in the surrounding water, for example, the researchers noticed a change in the narwhal’s heart rate.
The animals can basically “taste” the concentrations of chemicals in the water. Because of that, researchers believe males may use the tusk to find food. They also appear to be able to find females that are ready to mate.
Nweeia told the BBC that he’s fascinated that narwhals put all their energy into growing a single tusk rather than having a set of teeth to help them eat their diet of large fish.
“If you were looking for an ideal and fascinating tooth to study, there’s no question this would be it.”
Stunning tusks
Footage from Canada may support one of the tentative conclusions Nweeia’s study: using the tusks to find food. One additional quirk? The horns may also help the narwhals prepare to eat that food, too.
The video above, shot using drones by the WWF in Canada in 2017, shows narhwals in Tremblay Sound, Nunavat, striking Artic cod with their tusks to stun them and then gobble up the fish.
Steve Ferguson, of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, explained in a video for the agency that the drone footage shows male narwhals “kind of tracking the cod with the tusk […] and as the cod was positioned close to the tip of the tusk, the narwhal sort of gave it a quick, hard tap that likely stunned the fish — it looked like it was momentarily not moving — and then the narwhal would move in with its mouth and suck in the prey.”
Given that we’re only seeing this behavior now, in no small thanks to the general unobtrusiveness of drones, researchers are eager to learn what other possible uses there are for the tusks. A dual purpose sensory organ and cod stunner is already pretty exciting, so what other uses could these creatures of the deep have for this horn-looking tooth?
was kidnapped and imprisoned for 18 years, says she would not forbid her daughters from seeing their father– her captor and rapist — if they wanted to.
“I want them to make their own choices in life, and if that’s something that they need to do, then you know I’d … I wouldn’t be OK with it. But I wouldn’t not let them do it,” Dugard, 36, said in an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.
Dugard was abducted at age 11 in 1991 by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in 1991. She was held captive in Garrido’s California backyard compound and had two children fathered by him.
Dugard and her daughters were rescued in 2009. Phillip Garrido pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and 13 counts of sexual assault and was sentenced to 431 years in prison.
Nancy Garrido pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping, one count of rape by force and to California’s “one strike” rape law. She was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison.
More than two years after Dugard was kidnapped, when she was 13 years old, she learned she was pregnant and gave birth at 14 years old to her first daughter.
“I can’t fathom how I kept it together or, you know, I must’ve been checked out, you know, on a different level. You know, [I was] present, but not present for, you know, some of it, because it’s terrifying on its own. But being alone, how did I even do that?” Dugard recalled.
When the Garridos found Dugard in labor, she said they gave her codeine. Dugard said Phillip Garrido told her he had watched videos about giving birth and knew how to deliver a baby. Dugard said she was in labor for another 12 hours.
In 1997, Dugard gave birth to her second daughter.
“Anything could happen,” Dugard said of the dangers of giving birth in such difficult conditions. “And I had two.”
As she and her daughters grew older, Dugard said she planted a flower in front of the shed and set up a little school to teach them as much as she could with only her fifth-grade education.
“They’re so resilient, and they’re beautiful and loving, and I’m really lucky,” she said.
Dugard has protected her daughters’ privacy and said some of their friends don’t even know of their past. She said the three of them are able to talk about what happened with each other.
“When I refer to him … I think I’ve been calling him Phillip lately, actually,” Dugard said.
Five years ago, Dugard said she called Phillip Garrido their dad.
“They saw his craziness and ups and downs and knew how unpredictable he was,” she said.
She said she and her daughters have learned to laugh at the challenging life they live together.
“To know it was OK to laugh about, you know, Phillip and Nancy and their … craziness … it helps,” Dugard said.
Both Dugard and her mother, Terry Probyn, said they would not want the two girls to see their father in person, but that they would respect their decision if they wanted to meet him.
“I would hope they wouldn’t want to, but as long as he’s behind bars, and they’re safe, then I wouldn’t hinder their ability to make that choice,” Dugard said.
Probyn said: “It’s their decision. I would hope that they would choose not to.”
Dugard said she has done everything she can to not let her own fears limit her daughters’ lives.
“Do we scare our kids into never wanting to do anything or do we prepare them for the worst in life, never knowing if, you know, if it’s really going to happen?” she said.
Dugard first detailed her horrific experience in her 2011 bestselling book, “A Stolen Life: A Memoir,” and now has a second book, “Freedom: My Book of Firsts,” about moving on after those years in captivity.
Methane converted into renewable natural gas at this Portland wastewater treatment plant will power diesel trucks. (Photo: Eli Duke/flickr)
Portland, Oregon’s reputation for setting itself apart from the pack — and then some— is well deserved.
And while not the first city to capture noxious sewage gas and convert it into vehicle fuel, Portland’s newly approved $9 million “poop-to-power” scheme is certainly ambitious, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 21,000 tons annually while producing enough homegrown, revenue-generating natural gas to power the equivalent of 154 sanitation trucks for a year.
Portland Environmental Services, the city’s wastewater and stormwater management utility, anticipates that capturing methane-rich waste gas produced at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant and converting it into renewable natural gas (RNG) will bring in a minimum of $3 million per year through sales of the fuel. The city itself will, of course, also power some its own vehicles with the diesel-replacing poop fuel.
Built in 1952 on Portland’s north side, the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant is the larger of two wastewater treatment facilities, serving 600,000 residential and commercial customers in this Salmon-Safe city of roughly 619,000 residents. Previous to the construction of the plant, raw sewage flowed directly into the Willamette River and floodplain of the Columbia River.
About 2,500 miles of sewage-conveying pipes feed into the plant, which has undergone numerous improvements and expansions over the decades including the addition of a striking, LEED-certified support facility in 2013. The construction of a methane-to-natural-gas conversion facility along with an on-site RNG fueling station is the biggest greenhouse gas-curbing project in the 65-year history of the plant. The scheme is also being heralded as the biggest emissions-reduction project in the history of the entire city although some, including Vivek Shandas, a professor of urban studies at Portland State University, feel that estimation is a touch too generous. “Arguably, we’ve done more with the urban growth boundary, with a number of density policies than we have with any single win, any single project like this,” he tells Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Currently, 77 percent of the methane gas generated as a byproduct in the processing of solid human waste at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant is harvested and used to generate electricity and heat. But as the Oregonian reports, the remaining 23 percent is flared — or burned and released into air. Along with releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, the wasteful practice of methane flaring has also shown to have other disagreeable impacts on the surrounding environment. Once the new facility is constructed, flaring will cease as Portland achieves full methane recovery status from sewage waste.
By converting methane into renewable natural gas, Portland will produce enough fuel annually to power 154 garbage trucks. (Photo: mike krzeszak/flickr)
Poop gas: Portland’s new clean fuel export
Approved unanimously by Portland City Council on Earth Day, the first major components — the conversion facility and the on-site RNG filling station — of the methane-to-renewable-natural-gas scheme are due to be completed and up and running by the end of this year. Initially, the gas will exclusively be used to fuel converted diesel trucks operated by Portland Environmental Services and other city entities. But by the end of 2018, the sewer gas-derived fuel will be connected via pipeline to a natural gas distribution network owned by Portland-based utility NW Natural (née the Northwest Natural Gas Company) and sold both locally and out of state on the renewable energy market.
The Oregonian elaborates:
The city plans to sell the product for credits they will be awarded based on the volume of natural gas they sell to oil companies and other ‘obligated parties’ required to invest in renewable energy or purchase carbon offsets under The Clean Air Act, said Paul Suto, supervising engineer at Portland’s environmental services bureau.
The environmental services bureau’s natural gas production is expected to bring in $3 million to $10 million of revenue per year, depending on the value of the credits in state and federal energy markets, bureau officials estimated.
While Portland’s buses currently run on biogas, there’s the possibility that the public transit system and other city agencies with sizable fleets could switch over to this special homegrown natural gas at some point down the line.
“We are creating a triple-win for the public in terms of revenue, climate action and cleaner air,” says City Commissioner Nick Fish in a press statement. “The renewable natural gas we will produce is truly local and homegrown, a by-product of the waste from every Portland household that we can now repurpose.”
With the water flushed by Portlanders soon to be producing a clean source of fuel for diesel trucks, it’s worth noting that in 2015, the city announced plans to tap into its drinking water supply as part of a cutting-edge in-pipe hydroelectricity project that’s been touted as a low-cost, environmentally friendly alternative to conventional hydroelectric projects like dams. That project, powered by the city’s drinking water naturally flowing through tiny turbines, harnesses enough juice to keep the lights on and appliances humming in an estimated 150 Portland homes.
As Portland has proved, when you have thousands of miles of pipes running beneath a city, it only makes sense to use these hidden renewable energy goldmines to their fullest advantage — in the end, it doesn’t matter if the water flowing through them is potable or filled with poop.
Entrepreneurs are no strangers to the odd bout of existential terror. Usually, these period of stress and fear flair up only to die down rather quickly.
Sometimes, however, these stresses persist and can make you feel totally overwhelmed.
Fortunately, I have plenty of experience coping with the feelings of being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of my life. Over the years, I’ve learned three coping mechanisms that enable me to not only deal with feelings of being overwhelmed, but thrive.
Understand your priorities
No matter how talented or motivated you are, it’s impossible to do everything at once, so stop trying.
The best way to dig out of an overwhelming situation is to pick your top priorities and work from there. Prioritization is difficult for many entrepreneurs because everything seems to be equally important at first glance.
When we step back and practice mindfulness, however, we realize that isn’t the case. It’s always possible to prioritize things in your life; it just isn’t always easy.
When juggling priorities, it’s important to remember that matters of the heart, be they relationships, family, or personal fulfillment, are the most fragile. If you fail to keep these relationships healthy, there’s a good chance they’ll be irreparably damaged.
Work, on the other hand, is far more resilient. Even when you make a terrible mistake and drop the ball, it almost always bounces back. The key to happiness is recognizing which priorities are fragile, and which are more durable.
For me, priorities are absolute and fall into three categories. My first priorities are the needs of family.
My second priority is my company. For entrepreneurs and leaders, work needs to be a higher priority than it is for most people. The reason for this is that it isn’t just about dealing with your job.
As the leader of a company, you have many people who depend on you, including team, clients, and investors.
The third priority is personal fulfillment. If you’ve taken care of your family and your team, then you have the right to focus on yourself. Clearly defining these priorities makes dealing with even the most overwhelming of situations more manageable.
Find ways to practice mindfulness
When things start to pile up, and you start to feel overwhelmed by the tasks ahead, don’t panic. Remember to stop and be mindful of the present moment.
More often than not, the anxiety and stress entrepreneurs experience is due to what they think might happen in the future, not what they’re dealing with in the present.
Practicing mindfulness and focusing on the current moment can give you a reprieve from the thoughts and concerns that cause anxiety.
The benefits of mindfulness have been well documented, and a recent Harvard Business Review article points out that it takes as little as six seconds of mindful meditation for these benefits to manifest themselves.
Quieting your mind and moving away from the endless “what-if” scenarios helps to center you in the present and prepares you to deal with the tasks that lie ahead more effectively.
Accept the fact that not everything will be perfect
Last but not least, it’s important to learn to accept imperfection. Perfection is an unattainable goal, and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.
It’s far better to recognize that we live in an imperfect world and that sometimes our best is good enough.
This applies to both work and personal life. Sometimes, it’s better to let the housework slide for playing with your kid or to relinquish control on a project rather than micromanage it.
Learning to accept imperfection enables you to keep moving forward, and that’s precisely what you need to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Everyone gets overwhelmed from time to time, but it doesn’t need to lead to anxiety or excessive stress.
The trick is to make sure that you stay in the moment, pick your priorities, and accept imperfection. Once you do those three simple things, you’ll find yourself in the position to overcome the challenges you face and move forward with confidence.
I’m a software developer. I’ve had my job for three years. I like the job.
Lately my job is forcing me to set boundaries. I never had to do that before, until this year.
I have to set limits with my boss “Larry.” Larry is a new manager and he pushes us to work as many hours as we can. I am a salaried employee so I don’t get paid for working overtime.
I try to leave work by 6 p.m. most nights. Larry offers to buy us pizza all the time to get us to stay longer but it’s not healthy. My brain gets fried and I have to go home and recharge.
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Last week we had to finish up a project that got delayed because of a bug in a piece of third-party software. It slowed us down right at the end of the project schedule and I stayed late at work every night for a week. I don’t mind because I know the project is important and I want to get it done.
Last night, we finally sent the release to QA for testing.
We didn’t finish until 10:30 p.m. Larry had been working alongside me the whole week so he knew how much time I had put in.
We had worked until midnight the night before.
We were crossing the the parking lot when Larry said “Be sure to be here at eight a.m. tomorrow for the Product Update meeting. Don’t be late.”
There were three cars in the parking lot — mine, Larry’s and the night guard’s truck.
Larry wanted me to talk at the Product Update meeting. He wanted me to tell the team how we worked late at night for a week to get the product out. Larry is always worried about his image. He wanted to make himself and our department look good.
I said, “Larry, it’s 10:30 now and I haven’t had dinner, I haven’t had a shower, I’m not going to be here at 8 a.m. tomorrow. I’ll be in at 10:30 or 11:00.”
During the week of late nights Larry never said “Thanks” or “I really appreciate this, you guys” much less “Please sleep in tomorrow.”
As you always say, fearful people lose their perspective and Larry definitely loses his when he’s under stress. He doesn’t do it intentionally.
He becomes unreasonable and irrational. My teammates and I have to set him straight. He gets angry and blusters but he knows he needs us.
Larry said “Get in as early as you can, then” and that was it. This morning I pulled into the parking lot at ten a.m. on the dot. It turns out they cancelled the product update meeting anyway.
Larry was nowhere to be seen. His assistant told me his wife called and said Larry was exhausted and was sleeping in. Good for him! Maybe I’m having an influence on Larry after all.
Middle East analyst Ehsan Abdoh Tabrizi says that while Iran President Hassan Rouhani remains limited in impacting the country’s foreign policy, his landslide re-election gives him a significant opportunity for domestic reforms
by Gordon Kelly – The Pixel 2 is going to be big. Literally very, very big… The ‘Taimen’ has surfaced. The third of three codenamed Pixel handsets – Muskie, Walleye and Taimen – until now it was only rumoured through anecdotal code fragments, but now the device itself has appeared and revealed its core specifications. The handset […]
by MARY JO DILONARDO – Male narwhals will rub their horns together, an action known as ‘tusking.’ (Photo: Glenn Williams/National Institute of Standards and Technology) Known as “the unicorns of the sea,” narwhals are unique for the solitary tusk that protrudes through the tops of their heads. The horn is actually a canine front tooth that can […] […]
By SEAN DOOLEY – was kidnapped and imprisoned for 18 years, says she would not forbid her daughters from seeing their father– her captor and rapist — if they wanted to. “I want them to make their own choices in life, and if that’s something that they need to do, then you know I’d […]
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